Tutto a posto...everything in its place...?

I feel the need to inform anyone and everyone of one little phrase in Italian. Tutto a posto. Literally translated I would say it means "all in place". They use it like "Is everything going okay?" And the response is "Si, tutto a posto" - "Yes, everything's going okay." Just a little edition to enrich your Italian vocabulary, and one that I didn't know after having studied Italian for two years! :)

Well, we're coming up on the season of change....spring. The Harding students from the spring semester have come and gone - we will miss them! They were a great group, and I feel like we got to know them well. We've had several visitors come through already, such as Ivo, Danny & Bernetta Crow, Rhetta Dean, Mark Slagle, Jeff Hopper, to name a few, and many more to come. My grandaddy arrives tomorrow morning, and he will be staying a month or so, helping dad out with some repairs to the school and preaching every Sunday that he's here (surprise, surprise!).

All of the Avanti workers attended a youth retreat last Saturday in Bologna. It was really great - there were about 40 young people in attendance. The retreat lasted from Friday to Monday, but we were only able to go on Saturday. Franco Verardi spoke and presented some thoughts, and then we all discussed them.

Monday was the Day of Liberation from Fascism here in Italy, which is a national holiday. Andrea, Angela and I (being part of the world-renowned Scandicci band) played in a parade that morning and then a concert that evening. We had quite a crowd following us for the parade, which finished in a cemetery where the soldiers who died in the war for liberation were buried. It was a great day.

We are wrapping up our regular classes for the school year on May 18th. Our summer schedule is a little different than the rest of the year, and it is hard to keep a regular schedule. We have a group of athletes from Harding that are coming to stay for a month at the Bible School, so we will be kept busy cooking, cleaning, and helping them out. They will be here until the end of June. The last week in June and the first week of July is the kids' summer camp. Ryan, Laura, Angela and I will all be participating this year as counselors and Bible class teachers, as well as activity group leaders. Laura and Ryan will also be the camp nurses. I had a really good experience with camp last year and felt like I really got to know the kids better because of it, so I'm looking forward to returning this year. Also Ryan and Laura have begun planning a VBS for around June 18th for the cities of Florence, Prato, and Pistoia. The theme will be "The Armor of God".

There's not much new going on outside of that - just our normal schedule and activities. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers! I love you!

"Red fish, red fish, in the sea" and "Little Boat on the Water"

..... two enormous hits with the kids at the daycare - something incredible, seeing as I made them up on the spot about two minutes before teaching them to the kiddies. Simple is best! Cheesy is better! :) Everything is going great here in Scandicci, our classes are as full as ever and our new activity schedule is a big hit. I'd say we average at least 10 students at movie night, 7 students at Book Club, and Cooking USA is overflowing - usually about 15 students or so. Game Night is the only area that's taking a while to catch on, but we're not giving up on it!

So much to tell about. Back in February we participated in the women's convegno which was held in Velletri, a town near Rome. It was wonderful to spend time with women from all over Italy and all over the world. We had about 55 participants, and this year our theme was "The Beatitudes of Our Time". We broke into 8 discussion groups (one for each beatitude) and there were two group leaders per group to guide the conversation. Ermenita and I were group leaders together, and we were responsible for "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness...". Everyone had great things to say and interesting comments to jumpstart our thinking caps.

We said "goodbye" to the two married couples, Eric and Jessica and Ryan and Laura. I say "goodbye", because Ryan and Laura didn't really go anywhere. They moved into an apartment in Brozzi, a suburb of Florence and are still working with the church in Florence. We get to see them all the time still! :) Jessica and Eric moved down to Taranto to work with the churches in that area. From what I hear they are doing really well down there and the people love them. We miss them around here though!

Because of some repairs going on at the villa, we had Harding students living with us at the Bible School this semester, which was different and fun. They were great to have around - we're gonna miss them too!

We just have about a month and a half of classes left until we break for the summer, so we're trying to make these last 6 weeks count. Thanks to everyone for the encouragement that we get from all of you! We appreciate your thoughts and prayers!